ReadWrite - black fridayhttp://readwrite.com/tag/black-friday
enCopyright 2015 Wearable World Inc.http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:09:20 -0800How Retailers Are Going "Reactive" To Keep Their Online Operations Humming<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>Every year, Black Friday is used as a barometer for the overall health of retail and e-commerce. One of the interesting insights that came out of this year’s Black Friday came courtesy of Web performance company <a href="http://www.catchpoint.com/">Catchpoint System’s report</a> that e-commerce websites had sharply degraded in performance between 2013 and 2014, with desktop-centric e-commerce pages stumbling to a 20% performance hit while mobile pages slowed by 57%.&nbsp;</p><p>Not exactly the best way to set the cash register on fire. Not in a good way, anyway.</p><p>The problem, it turns out, is scale. Or, rather, online retailers' ability to scale.&nbsp;To get some insight into modern scale challenges for retail as we close out the holiday season, I spoke with Kathryn Murphy, senior vice president of Apps and Platform at Tomax, a Salt Lake City retail software company that specializes in brick and mortar retailers (i.e., L.L. Bean, Swarovski and Sportsman’s Warehouse), but also provides a suite of cloud-based retail solutions that support more than 25,000 customer store locations.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/19/reactive-programming-jonas-boner-typesafe">As Systems Get More Complex, Programming Is Getting "Reactive"</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Tomax is on the front lines with retailers, and has seen an increasingly "<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/19/reactive-programming-jonas-boner-typesafe">r</a>" approach to programming pay dividends as they attempt to scale.</p><p><strong>ReadWrite</strong>:&nbsp;<em>What are the new pressures that you see in retail? What could explain the struggle of retailers to keep up with the demands of scale?</em></p><p><strong>Murphy</strong>: The biggest pressure in retail is the shift in power to the consumer. Several years ago, consumers got pretty comfortable shopping online and on their mobile devices with online retail giants like Amazon. This quickly became the new expectation from the consumer.&nbsp;</p><p>Consumers don't care how hard it may be to deliver that experience. They expect a big box retailer like Best Buy to have connected, real-time systems. The consumer expects to be able to order online, see the inventory in a local store, and pick it up later today. They expect the associates to have mobile devices and access to all the same information. All of these new devices, new endpoints, new interactions from the consumer and the associates have made the retail systems world unpredictable. </p><p><strong>RW</strong>: <em>How much of the year do retail IT pros spend worrying about and preparing for the holiday surges?</em></p><p><strong>KM</strong>: For the highly seasonal retailers, it’s everything. As evidence, they all implement “lock down” periods in the fourth quarter. Everything must be done and ready for the holiday season by September.&nbsp;</p><p>Additionally, they all purchase infrastructure based on “peak season”—this is a phenomenon unto itself. So many retailers are dealing with orders of magnitude differences in system load during the holiday. Honestly, it’s a real opportunity for elastic systems that can scale when the retailer needs it - and pay only for use—instead of making enormous upfront capital expenditures and paying for peak load infrastructure all year just to handle the holiday season traffic.</p><p><strong>RW</strong>:<em> How has the proliferation of devices</em>—<em>in the hands of customers as well as employees</em>—<em>affected the retail landscape?</em></p><p><strong>KM</strong>: It has two major effects. The employee devices have created hundreds of more endpoints in a retail environment. No longer is it a fixed number of registers and a few scanning devices in the backroom. Everyone has a device and they are doing all sorts of things from helping customers, ringing up transactions, and performing store inventory.&nbsp;</p><p>And these devices are not hard-wired into the environment, they are constantly losing connectivity, being replaced, etc. This has the effect of creating unpredictability and instability.&nbsp;</p><p>Then add the consumer and their new empowerment to perform transactions themselves, now we have that many more devices, and many different types of devices in the mix. And since it is the consumer’s device, they are free to interact with the retailer system at any time. This element alone puts pressures on typical retailer IT practices like “nightly system maintenance” windows.</p><p><strong>RW</strong>: <em>Why is resilience so important in retail?</em></p><p><strong>KM</strong>: All of this technology is highly dependent on networks and system availability. Both of which fail.&nbsp;</p><p>And yet, a single failure for either a consumer or associate can be so impactful that it can result in a loss of a customer for the retailer. It’s critical to have “smart apps” that can gracefully recover and transition when failures occur without the user noticing or having to do anything special.</p><p><strong>RW</strong>: <em>In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXywS0gPN84">recent video</a> Tomax talked a lot about concurrency being a major challenge for retailers. What does concurrency mean in your retail stores? How does <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/19/reactive-programming-jonas-boner-typesafe">reactive programming</a> help?</em></p><p><strong>KM</strong>: In retail, we see some unique challenges with concurrency with the proliferation of devices. For example, when a big shipment comes in (and in the holiday season, these can be really big!), it seems obvious that you would want as many employees as possible scanning the merchandise in and preparing it for the retail floor.&nbsp;</p><p>Concurrency is immediately a problem since more than one employee is scanning merchandise, and sometimes even the same item, at the same time. The system needs to inform <strong>both</strong>&nbsp;employees, in real time, about the other person’s updates.&nbsp;</p><p>Traditional systems want to “lock” a record while one person works on it and make the other person wait. Reactive systems take a different approach and leverage work queues and threads to keep communication flowing freely back and forth.&nbsp;</p><p>We've had great success using&nbsp;<a href="http://typesafe.com/">Typesafe</a>'s&nbsp;reactive stack, as it frees retailers from having to train their users to use their systems in a certain way. Instead, this reactive approach makes it easier to build intuitive applications that respond to the technical environment around them, rather than forcing users into the system's rigid way of doing things.</p><p><em>Lead image courtesy of <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a></em></p>New challenges arise as power shifts to mobile-shopping consumers.http://readwrite.com/2014/12/24/online-retail-ecommerce-scale-reactive-tomax
http://readwrite.com/2014/12/24/online-retail-ecommerce-scale-reactive-tomaxWebWed, 24 Dec 2014 07:04:13 -0800Matt AsayAmazon Gears Up For Cyber Monday<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01c0b783f00199de" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MzAyNTY1MjUwOTUzMTg2.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Amazon’s already <em>sooo</em> over Black Friday. The <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-releases-best-deals-of-the-year-on-cyber-monday-new-deals-every-ten-minutes-2014-11-28">online retail giant pushes forward</a> with new offers starting Saturday, ahead of Cyber Monday, with new deals launching every 10 minutes. For the first time, it’s also sending mobile-exclusive lightning deals through its app, so users can snag a sweet discount on the go.</p><p>Amazon says thousands of deals will be ready per day. Among the ranks, we spotted a few gadgets, appliances, media and other tech temptations getting ready for release across multiple categories.&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01c0b78400012a83" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MzAyNTY1MjUxMDE4NzIy.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/amazon-slashes-fire-phone-price">Amazon Slashes Fire Phone Price Again</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Electronics:</p><ul><li>Sony 40-inch 1080p LED TV, $298</li><li>LG 49-inch Smart 4K Ultra HD LED TV, $999 plus 15% back in rewards (no signup required)</li><li>Samsung 40-inch 1080p LED TV, $298</li><li>15% back in rewards on select LG Smart LED Premium TVs (no signup required)</li><li>Up to $50 <a href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a> credit with purchase of SONOS wireless speakers</li><li>$30 off select Bose headphones</li><li>Kids Cameras at unbelievable prices</li><li>Top-selling digital camera, $70 off</li><li>Acer Chromebook at $149</li><li>HP 110-430 Desktop + 2371d 23-inch Monitor Bundle— $299.99</li><li>25% off new iHome Bluetooth Executive Music Station</li><li>25% off new splash-proof Philips DOT Bluetooth speakers</li></ul><h3>Toys &amp; Games:</h3><ul><li>50% off select LeapFrog toys</li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/MaKey-The-Original-Invention-Everyone/dp/B008SFLEPE">MaKey MaKey The Original Invention Kit for Everyone</a>, $39.95</li></ul><h3>Books, Movies and Music</h3><ul><li>Up to 50% off popular books including Guinness World Records 2015, What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey and The Cook’s Illustrated Meat Book</li><li>Save up to 57% on over 12,000 movies &amp; TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray including House of Cards: Season 2, Lone Survivor, and The Dark Knight Trilogy</li></ul><h3>Kitchen:</h3><ul><li>More than 50% off <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FLYWNYQ">Instant Pot 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker</a></li></ul><h3>Tools and Home Improvement:</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009GDHYPQ">Nest Learning Thermostat</a>, $199</li><li>15% off SmartThings SmartPower Outlet with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FWYESVQ">SmartThings Hub Purchase</a> </li></ul><h3>Home:</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005KMDV9A">Shark Navigator Lift-Away Professional Upright</a>, $139.99</li><li>40% off <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0028MB3HM">Shark Steam Pocket Mop</a></li></ul><h3>Automotive:</h3><ul><li>Save 20% on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJXKE5E">Automatic Smart Driving Assistant</a></li><li>More than 60% off <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JFJLP6">Clore JNC660 'Jump-N-Carry' 1,700 Peak Amp 12-Volt Jump Starter</a></li><li>More than 45% off <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001G4Z5J0">Pro Series Hitch Mounted Cargo Carrier</a></li><li>Up to 45% off KC HiLiTES Light Systems</li><li>Up to 40% off Rampage LED Tailgate Light Bars </li></ul><h3>Industrial &amp; Scientific:</h3><ul><li>a 3D printer under $400 </li></ul><h3>Sports:</h3><ul><li>Save 25% off Withings O2 Pulse </li></ul><p>Cyber Monday has become Amazon's biggest day for "m-commerce,” or shopping from mobile devices. According to the company, smartphone and tablet users picked up more than five toys per second from the site during this same period last year. Clearly, it’s doubling down on that business now, using its app to appeal to these consumers with mobile-only offers. If it succeeds, it might even help the shopping site dig its way out of the <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/10/23/amazon-earnings-jeff-bezos-fire-tv-phone-delusional">$170 million hole left by its gadget division</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>So if you haven’t quite seen the discount you’ve been looking for, take heart: Amazon may just shoot it to your phone before long.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Photos by Adriana Lee for ReadWrite</em></p>It's readying thousands of deals, including exclusives for mobile shoppers.http://readwrite.com/2014/11/28/amazon-cyber-monday-deals
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/28/amazon-cyber-monday-dealsMobileFri, 28 Nov 2014 10:40:23 -0800Adriana LeeHere's Your 3-Point Strategy For Owning Black Friday<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01c07eb51001efe2" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MjQwMTA0NjE1Mjk5MDgy.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>On Friday, retail’s version of <em>The Hunger Games</em> will commence. That’s when the holiday hordes descend on stores and websites around the country, trying to claw the very best deals on gifts for their loved ones (and themselves).</p><p>You can not only survive the weekend, but you can thrive, knowing you got the best value for your shopping dollars. Here are a few ideas that can help along the way. </p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/amazon-deals-robots-warehouse-lightning-apps-game"><strong>Brace Yourselves For Amazon's Big Holiday Blowout</strong></a></p></blockquote><h3>Start Out With A List Of Products You Want To Buy</h3><p>If you’re not sure what to get your friend, co-worker or family member, it’s possible to browse for gifts this weekend. You might even get lucky and score some great values here and there. But don't leave your whole list up in the air. The other shoppers scavenging for&nbsp;supplies at stores probably won’t. You don’t want a lack of focus to leave you exhausted, desperately hunting for whatever you can get.&nbsp;</p><h3>Do A Little Research; It Goes A Long Way</h3><p>Amazon has <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/amazon-deals-robots-warehouse-lightning-apps-game">extra lightning deals</a> going. <a href="http://blackfriday.bestbuy.com/">Best Buy</a> offers some sneak peeks and early sales. (It also offers a price match guarantee on certain items, if you happen to spot it somewhere else for less.) So do <a href="http://www.staples.com/Pre-Black-Friday/cat_BI865356">Staples</a>, <a href="http://www.target.com/c/target-black-friday/-/N-5q0f2">Target</a> and others. Even Twitter has a holiday initiative to connect stores and users.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/twitter-offers-advertising-shopping-black-friday-holiday"><strong>Twitter Lets Retailers Tweet You Deals—Just In Time For Black Friday</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>For particular products, check out CNET’s picks for the <a href="http://www.cnet.com/pictures/best-black-friday-tech-deals-of-2014/">best Black Friday tech deals</a>, or peruse USA Today’s <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2014/11/24/save-of-the-day-deal-stock-lists/19240581/">Black Friday Stock Lists</a>, which covers whole-store inventory for more than 35 major retailers.</p><h3>Stay On Top Of Deal Alerts And Sales</h3><p><a href="http://bfads.net/">BFads.net</a>’s sole purpose is to corral Black Friday deals—it even has an <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bfads.net-black-friday/id476257466?mt=8">iPhone</a> app—and <a href="http://dealnews.com/features/black-friday/predictions/apple/">DealNews</a> does an admirable job of staying on top of specific droolworthy sales and promotions. Keep these tools in your bookmarks or phones, to keep abreast of jaw-dropping sales and discounts.&nbsp;</p><p>With a little savvy, some swift action and a lot of chutzpah, you won't want for gifts and other products. And even if you do miss out on a few items, don't fret: The season has only just gotten started.&nbsp;Let the Holiday Games begin.&nbsp;</p><p>Know of another great deal or holiday shopping resource? Tell us in the comments section below.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/4182076189/">Mark Hillary</a></em></p>Work holiday shopping like a boss.http://readwrite.com/2014/11/28/black-friday-shopping-survival-guide
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/28/black-friday-shopping-survival-guidePlayFri, 28 Nov 2014 05:00:00 -0800Adriana LeeBitcoin Black Friday Wants You To Remember Bitcoin Exists<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01af657affa5860d" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTE5NTU2MzIyMzQ0MjczNDE5.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Spending <a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/08/08/whats-bitcoin-worth-in-the-real-world">bitcoins</a> is a little bit like spending gold. Most stores don’t accept it, and owners want to hold on to it anyway just in case the value hikes up. </p><p><a href="http://www.bitcoinblackfriday.com/">Bitcoin Black Friday</a> is Jon Holmquist’s solution to stagnating Bitcoin transactions. Amid a recent report that 70% of Bitcoins remain unspent for <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/analysis-around-70-bitcoins-dormant-least-six-months/">six months or more</a>, the Nov. 28 shopping day aims to entice owners of the cryptocurrency to make purchases. With Friday-only discounts offered from online merchants for those who pay with bitcoin, it also aims to improve and increase Bitcoin’s public image through an increasingly large shopping event.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/11/26/bitcoin-black-friday"><strong>Bitcoin Black Friday Aims To Get People To Actually Spend Their Bitcoins</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>Holmquist, founder of Bitcoin Black Friday, lists the one-day event as his primary employment on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonholmquist">his LinkedIn</a>. He spends a major part of the year reaching out to Bitcoin merchants about participating and drumming up publicity on Bitcoin forums. </p><p>This year marks the third annual Bitcoin Black Friday. In 2012, it was held on Nov. 9, a <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/History">second anniversary of sorts for Bitcoin</a>. Holmquist moved it to the more traditional day-after-Thanksgiving date and experienced a jump from <a href="http://www.thebitcointrader.com/2013/11/bitcoin-black-friday-parters-with-fight.html">75 merchants</a> to around 600, netting about 100,000 visitors to the Bitcoin Black Friday central hub, according to Holmquist.</p><p>"The big problem for us is that most merchants don't want to plan ahead," Holmquist <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gift-guide/get-ready-bitcoin-black-friday-deals-n254851">told NBC</a>. "It's a lot of smaller merchants, so they put it off until the day of or the day before."</p><p>In 2013, Holmquist reported that Bitcoin sales hit the equivalent of $6 million during the event. This year, he told NBC that 1,200 merchants are expected to take part. There are as many as 80,000 Bitcoin-accepting merchants globally, the New York Times <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/for-merchants-bitcoin-shows-more-pop-than-potential/?_r=0">reports</a>, so Bitcoin Black Friday has a lot of room to grow. Mainly, Holmquist hopes to use the event to attract people who aren’t already Bitcoin users to consider the currency.</p><p>"We have two things planned," he told NBC, regarding low-risk purchasing options. "First is the ability to instantly purchase bitcoin with your credit card: a small amount, like $25 worth. For most people, that's not too much of a risk. And we're also going to have a section [of the site] where you can purchase something for a small amount of money."</p><p>Holmquist has a lot of allies in the form of merchants who are finally willing to bet big on Bitcoin. PayPal <a href="https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-Forward/PayPal-and-Virtual-Currency/ba-p/828230">announced</a> in September that it had entered into agreements with Bitcoin payment processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin, allowing North American merchants who uses PayPal to accept Bitcoin payments. Several major companies like such as <a href="http://cointelegraph.com/news/112102/dell-computers-announces-bitcoin-acceptance-through-coinbase">Dell</a> and <a href="http://cointelegraph.com/news/112663/showroomprive-becomes-largest-european-bitcoin-retailer">Showroomprive</a> in Europe have also begun to recently accept Bitcoin payments.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/02/25/bitcoin-mt-gox-financial-crisis"><strong>The Mt. Gox Implosion Is Bitcoin's First Financial Crisis</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>Since last year, the value of a single Bitcoin has crashed from north of $1,000 at the end of 2013 to about $370 <a href="http://preev.com/">today</a>. The plummet is credited in part to the fall of Mt. Gox, a formerly popular Bitcoin exchange that no longer exists. Now that people are less likely to see Bitcoins as nest eggs, and the options for spending them are ever increasing, they may be more willing to part with them.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/100239928@N08/9510800941/">btckeychain</a></em></p>And make spending it worth your timehttp://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/bitcoin-black-friday-2014
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/bitcoin-black-friday-2014WebWed, 26 Nov 2014 08:07:44 -0800Lauren OrsiniAmazon Slashes Fire Phone Price Again<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b422ec60046d19" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNzYxNDg3NjU5MDY4Njk3.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>If it wasn’t already clear that Amazon’s got a lot of unwanted Fire Phones to sell, the company just made it more obvious. </p><p>In its latest effort to move product, Amazon is now offering the Fire Phone for $199 unlocked. Like before, Amazon is including a year of free Prime if you’ll just please, please buy its phone. </p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/08/amazon-fire-phone-sale-99-cent-discount"><strong>Amazon Fire Phone Flickers Out, Now Sells For 99 Cents</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>It’s a followup to September’s already-astounding price drop to 99 cents with a two year contract, or $449 off contract. Originally, the Amazon Fire Phone sold for $199 with a two-year contract or $649 off contract. </p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/amazon-deals-robots-warehouse-lightning-apps-game"><strong>Brace Yourselves For Amazon's Big Holiday Blowout</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>Amazon’s earnings have not been so hot this year, compelling the company to take a <a href="http://recode.net/2014/10/23/amazon-takes-170-million-writedown-on-weak-fire-phone-sales/">$170 million writedown</a> thanks mainly to the disastrous Fire Phone launch, according to the company’s third <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=1980979">quarterly earnings report</a>. </p><p>Now Amazon is down to the holiday season in order to recap its losses. In advance of Black Friday, Amazon has been offering its “Lightning Deals” all week long. Maybe you can use some of those discounts and buy a decent phone in Amazon’s electronics section.</p><p><em>Screenshot via Amazon</em></p>Maybe soon you'll be paid to take it off Amazon's handshttp://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/amazon-slashes-fire-phone-price
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/amazon-slashes-fire-phone-priceMobileWed, 26 Nov 2014 07:15:37 -0800Lauren OrsiniTwitter Lets Retailers Tweet You Deals—Just In Time For Black Friday<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01c0816f1001c80a" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MjQzMTAxOTY1NTg4OTU4.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Consumers may trample over each other to get cheaper TVs and laptops this season, but Twitter's advertising partners may have found the best Black Friday deal of all—the ability to tweet you promotions.&nbsp;</p><p>Just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the microblogging network <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2014/introducing-twitter-offers">announced "Twitter Offers</a>" on&nbsp;Tuesday.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/18/twitter-search-back-to-2006"><strong>Search All The Tweets! Twitter Now Indexed All The Way Back To 2006</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>The service lets retailers tweet deals directly to customers, and users can easily grab one of these promotions within the tweet itself.&nbsp;</p><h2>Tweets, As Commerce</h2><div tml-image="ci01c07ea890019512" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MjQwMDUxMTk2NjAzMDEx.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>When users see deals they want, they tap the "add offer to card" button to tie the offer to their credit card number. When they go to the store and purchase with the item (with that card), the cash-back savings will show up on their next credit card statement.</p><p>Twitter makes its money on this specialized version of promoted tweets by charging the advertisers, a select group of whom will participate in the launch phase. The initial stage essentially amounts to a&nbsp;test, allowing Twitter and its advertisers to see how effective and popular the approach is among the network's 284 million or so users. If the response rate proves that people like having deals tweeted at them, it could become a valuable profit center to boost the&nbsp;company's already impressive earnings.&nbsp;</p><p>Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://investor.twitterinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=878170">posted $320 million</a> in advertising revenue in the last quarter, ending in September 2014, which was up 109 percent from the same period last year.&nbsp;</p><p>The frenzy of post-Thanksgiving shopping may provide the best barometer of the service's success. According to <a href="https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/140-million-holiday-shoppers-likely-take-advantage-of-thanksgiving-weekend">a survey</a> by the National Retail Federation, roughly 6 in 10 people (about 140 million) plan to shop over the holiday weekend.&nbsp;</p><p>In conjunction with the launch, the company opened a fresh new Twitter account, <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterCommerce">@TwitterCommerce</a>. Its first tweet introduced the service; its second retweeted a deal from AMC Theatres offering free popcorn when you buy a $30 AMC gift card.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Lead photo by Adriana Lee for ReadWrite</em></p>Stores can now tweet discounts at users.http://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/twitter-offers-advertising-shopping-black-friday-holiday
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/26/twitter-offers-advertising-shopping-black-friday-holidaySocialWed, 26 Nov 2014 06:18:26 -0800Richard ProcterBrace Yourselves For Amazon's Big Holiday Blowout<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b4235d40038266" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNzYxOTcyNDUzMzExMDc4.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Nothing can get Amazon down, not even <a href="http://www.columbian.com/news/2014/nov/19/amazon-warehouse-worker-complaint-forces-changes/">brouhahas over warehouse labor relations</a>. Instead, the e-commerce giant would rather put on its Douglas Fir-colored glasses and get into the spirit a little early.</p><p>Amazon's <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/10/23/amazon-earnings-jeff-bezos-fire-tv-phone-delusional">earnings may be dismal</a>, but its e-commerce business remains the core of its business. With that, there's a lot of pressure to make the most out of the holiday shopping season. In addition to discounts—in particular,&nbsp;big upcoming Black Friday deals—the company is courting the public with free holiday music, as well as a couple of new digital offerings for Fire tablet users.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/10/23/amazon-earnings-jeff-bezos-fire-tv-phone-delusional"><strong>The Fire Phone May Have Cratered, But It Hasn't Dented Amazon's Tech Delusions</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>Call it an all-out Amazon assault on the bah-humbugs.</p><h2>Amazon's First Deals Are The Quickest</h2><p>When did the holiday season begin stepping on Halloween’s toes? Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally kicked off the season. Now retailers lick their chops as soon as we put away our costumes and wigs.&nbsp;</p><p>On the Web, the fervor has only just begun. But Amazon’s not waiting until Black Friday or its cohort, Cyber Monday. It’s striking early with new&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/blackfriday.">Lightning Deals </a>tomorrow. The site will add new deals every 10 minutes or so for eight days straight. It will also offer three Deals of the Day, beginning midnight on Thanksgiving, with three more tacked on when Black Friday arrives. That piles on to its regular rotation of limited-time Lightning Deals.&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01c00ee06001c80a" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTI2MTE3MTQ1NjA3MTU0MzA3.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>How you shop Amazon could change too. The company's partnership with Snapchat—which itself just <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/18/snapchat-snapcash-square-mobile-payments">hooked up with Square for SnapCash</a>—just&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-uses-snapchat-to-send-exclusive-deals/">yielded a new way</a> to send gift ideas, recommendations and Snapchat-exclusive temporary deals, which vanish in seconds. The first "snap” goes out today.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/18/snapchat-snapcash-square-mobile-payments"><strong>Snapchat: Our New "Snapcash" Won't Disappear—Oh, And Neither May Your Snaps</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>To help spread the cheer (or shopping addiction) even more, the company just released the free holiday soundtrack you never knew you wanted. Now you can mimic the in-store experience by playing the sort of Christmas songs that retailers love to play in the background, while you cruise Amazon’s goods.&nbsp;</p><p>The catch: The collection comes courtesy of Prime Music, so you&nbsp;have to be an Amazon Prime member.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PR9PUB8">You can click here right now</a> to access 40 songs—from "O Holy Night" to "I’ll Be Home For Christmas" to "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas”—on the website, or through an iPhone or Android device.</p><h2>Fire Perks For A Cold Season</h2><div tml-image="ci01bdd7c8a0012a83" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI1NDkzNjE4NjI5NjgzODQz.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>People wondered what Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was up to when he bought the Washington Post last year for $250 million. Now we know: Papa Bezos wanted to drop some journalistic knowledge on users of his Fire tablets.&nbsp;</p><p>The Post, and its newsroom of nearly 700 staffers and 60 Pulitzer Prizes, comes to Fire tablets <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LI6CXZA">courtesy of its brand-new app</a>. The Washington Post Fire tablet app, available in the Amazon Appstore, costs nothing for the first six months. That includes the app and a digital subscription to the newspaper. Users get a "pinch view” that lets them flip through virtual pages like a magazine. The editorial team won’t skimp on stories for this version either—it will release two editions daily: at 5 a.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET.&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01c00ee81001efe2" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MTE3MTc4NjI0NzE1Mzk1.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>For now, the app will be exclusive to Fire tablets, including the Fire HDX, Fire HD, and Kindle Fire HD, but it will come to additional devices next year.&nbsp;</p><p>If you’re not into shopping or reading, Amazon Game Studios has another tidbit up its sleeve: Today, it launches a new family-friendly game, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Game-Studios-Tales-Space/dp/B00P73L20M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1416329059&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=tales+from+deep+space">Tales From Deep Space</a>."&nbsp;</p><p>The company describes it as "a comedic mis-adventure set on Big Moon, the most eccentric space station in the galaxy.” Players help a traveling salesman and his loyal luggage drone, CASI, escape from the locked-down Big Moon by fighting battles and solving puzzles. The game supports both single-player and two-player mode.</p><div tml-image="ci01c00eff2001c80a" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI2MTE3Mjc3NDA5MDAzNTMw.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>While this one's not free (it costs $6.99),&nbsp;people with the Kindle Fire HDX or any 2014 Fire tablet get an extra benefit: They can play in a local, two-player "co-op.” Think of it as being connected, but without the latency of playing online. In this mode, each person controls their avatars on their own tablets.</p><p>The studio partnered with comiXology on a free "Tales From Deep Space" <a href="https://www.comixology.com/Tales-From-Deep-Space-0/digital-comic/163456?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVy">prequel comic</a>&nbsp;as well, which offers some background narrative on just how E ended up on Big Moon. The comic is available on Fire tablets and 2013 Kindle Fire tablets. </p><h2>Amazon's Robotic Santas (Or Scrooges?)</h2><p>Amazon may be putting its cool holiday face on for the public, but behind the scenes, it’s gearing up like mad to get ready for the thongs of shoppers. </p><p>With no Santa Claus on the payroll, the company knows it will take an army to fulfill all the gifts that will shuttle through its pipeline. To manage the load, Amazon will have a fleet of robots ready to arm its warehouses, or so <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-deploys-robots-to-speed-delivery-1416433198">reports The Wall Street Journal</a>. Short, squat and orange, <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/10000-robots-will-be-fulfilling-your-amazon-orders-end-year-1726901">as many as 10,000</a> wheeled machines could make for an imposing lot—not entirely unlike Doctor Who’s Daleks. But instead of “destroy!” their chant may be “deliver!”&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01c00eaed0012a83" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTI2MTE2OTMyNzM3ODM3Njk5.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>According to the paper, which cited people “familiar with the matter,"&nbsp;the robots bypass the need to have human employees searching the vast product warehouses for goods. The sources also say that Amazon's 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in Tracy, Calif.—roughly 60 miles east of San Francisco—is first up, with four floors of fixed shelving replaced by the robots. They'll bring products to human “pickers” who will stand by to receive.</p><p>A robot army could help expedite shipments, which should please consumers. But if this initiative takes off, that holiday spirit may not extend to the flesh-and-blood employees in Amazon's 40-warehouse network of fulfillment centers.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/robot-jobs-white-collar"><strong>What To Do When A Robot Takes Your Job</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>They’ve been on a roller coaster ride lately. Under <a href="http://www.columbian.com/news/2014/nov/19/amazon-warehouse-worker-complaint-forces-changes/">their settlement with the National Labor Relations Board</a>,&nbsp;the company agreed to change some of its rules. Amazon will finally allow its U.S. warehouse staff to communicate about pay and working conditions. Previously, it took a dim (sometimes punitive) view of such behavior.&nbsp;</p><p>The settlement also compels Amazon to allow posted notices informing employees that they have the right to unionize and collaborate on collective benefits—which would be a first for the online retailer.&nbsp;</p><p>The two events seem linked. Machines, after all, don’t complain or unionize—which may partly explain why the company has been exploring drone delivery, and bought robotics maker Kiva in 2012. The idea of&nbsp;<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/robot-jobs-white-collar">robots replacing people</a> has been a long-running fear for warehouse staff, factory workers and others in distribution or manufacturing.</p><p>Given that, as Amazon customers enjoy their deals and freebies—perhaps delivered more efficiently and cheaply than ever—the workers responsible for delivering them may not share in the cheer.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Product photos courtesy of Amazon; Jeff Bezos photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/5129303018">Steve Jurvetson</a>; Robot photo courtesy of Kivan Systems</em></p>Its holiday push includes deals, freebies—and robots!http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/amazon-deals-robots-warehouse-lightning-apps-game
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/20/amazon-deals-robots-warehouse-lightning-apps-gameWebThu, 20 Nov 2014 11:44:10 -0800Adriana LeeWhy Booming Mobile Commerce Is Good For Developers<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01bf7739500199de" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI1OTUwMzk4NjAyMTYwNzcx.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>While games continue to <a href="https://www.apple.com/itunes/charts/paid-apps/">dominate</a> the apps that consumers buy, there are clear signs that the future of mobile may not be what they allow you to play, but what they enable you to buy. According to a <a href="http://cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/ADI_2014_Holiday_Prediction/2014_Holiday_Shopping_Prediction.pdf">new research report</a><a href="http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/11/4/ADI_2014_Holiday_Prediction.html"></a>, mobile commerce is finally getting real.&nbsp;</p><p>How real? This busy shopping season, as much as 31% of all online purchases will happen on mobile devices. That's a big change from even a year ago, and portends a healthy future for mobile developers.&nbsp;</p><h2>Tracking American Purchasing Behaviors</h2><p>Since 2008 the Adobe Digital Index (ADI) has evaluated the purchasing behaviors of American consumers, tracking more than 1 trillion visits to 4,500 retail websites in that time, and 20 billion visits to ecommerce sites in October 2014 alone. (I recently came across the ADI upon starting work at Adobe last week.) This translates into analysis of 70% of all money spent online with the top 500 retailers, and past-year predictions falling within 1% of actual spend.</p><p>In other words, ADI is a pretty good gauge of consumer buying behaviors. (Have a look at it yourself <a href="http://cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/ADI_2014_Holiday_Prediction/2014_Holiday_Shopping_Prediction.pdf">here</a>.)</p><div tml-image="ci01bf692eb001c80a" tml-image-caption="Source: Adobe"><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI1OTM0OTYzMDI2NjIwMzg2.jpg" /><figcaption>Source: Adobe</figcaption></figure></div><p>Some of the findings offer clues as to when to get good deals. For example, ADI holds that the best day to find a deal is Thanksgiving Day, when the average discount hits 24%.&nbsp;</p><p>If you can't wait until Thanksgiving, at least wait until the Monday preceding the U.S. holiday, as ADI predicts a 5% price drop between Sunday, November 23, and Monday, November 24, the largest single-day price drop of the season.</p><p>Oh, and if you're inclined to wait until Cyber Monday to start your shopping engines, be warned: "Out-of-stock messages will increase 5-fold on&nbsp;Cyber Monday due to increased demand and&nbsp;limited supply."</p><h2>More Money, More Mobile</h2><p>But the more interesting data ADI uncovers has to do with mobile buying behavior.</p><p>Across the board, ecommerce is booming. As reflected in the&nbsp;<a href="http://ir.nielsen.com/files/doc_financials/Nielsen-Global-E-commerce-Report-August-2014.pdf">Nielsen Global E-Commerce Report</a>, "Online purchase intention rates have doubled in three years for 12 of 22 measured categories," topping $1.5 trillion on 2014. As noted in the ADI, during the holiday shopping season this growth can reach 28% over last year's numbers.</p><p>But online retail isn't news. Mobile, however, is.</p><p>Last year most mobile ecommerce behavior essentially amounted to showrooming, whereby consumers would visit a Best Buy, for example, to see a dishwasher in person and then would complete the purchase online.&nbsp;</p><p>But in 2014 the ADI predicts huge growth in the number of people both initiating and consummating a purchase on their mobile devices and, increasingly, their smartphones.</p><p>That's right: tablets, those ugly stepchildren, are getting even uglier, even though you'd think they're by far the better shopping device given their superior screen real estate. The Wall Street Journal's Christopher Mims captures the zeitgeist well:</p><p>Not that the tablet is losing all relevance. While smartphones increasingly take center stage among our mobile distractions, tablets still have a big place in mobile commerce:</p><div tml-image="ci01bf69716001c80a" tml-image-caption="Source: Adobe"><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI1OTM1MjQ5NzE1NjY0MTQ2.jpg" /><figcaption>Source: Adobe</figcaption></figure></div><p>But the role of tablets is shrinking fast. In 2013, for instance, tablet use outpaced that of smartphones nearly two-to-one,&nbsp;according to last year's <a href="http://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/2013HolidayShoppingRecap/2013HolidayAndeCommerceBenchmark.pdf">ADI post-mortem on holiday sales</a>. This year, tablets and smartphones are much closer to parity. Next year, don't be surprised to see phones jump ahead.</p><p>At the heart of this shift away from computer-based buying to mobile-based buying is consumer convenience. A few years ago mobile apps or websites were virtually unusable. Today they're optimized to make it easy to buy.&nbsp;</p><p>As a personal example, I can't recall ever buying clothes online, and certainly not shoes, which (for me) has always required trying them on to ensure a good fit.&nbsp;</p><p>But yesterday I bought a pair of shoes using my Nordstrom app. I was at work, prompting me to think about the need for work shoes. I don't have time to head over to the nearest Nordstrom, so I downloaded the app and started flicking through options. Ten minutes later, I had a pair of Eccos heading to my house.</p><h2>What This Means For Developers</h2><p>All of which is good news for mobile developers and the companies that employ them. In the past there was essentially one business model: build an app that was wildly popular (which almost by necessity meant it had to be free) and sell it to Facebook for $1 billion.</p><p>What this meant, as ReadWrite's <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/07/22/app-developers-middle-class-opportunities">Dan Rowinski highlighted</a>, is a non-existent middle class of mobile developers: "The revenue distribution is so heavily skewed towards the top that just 1.6% of developers make multiples of the other 98.4% combined.” Nearly half of all mobile developers make nothing at all.</p><p>Part of this derives from the revenue models available to mobile developers. While the desktop web has a healthy advertising-based market, mobile ads have been slow to catch on, and getting someone to notice and then pay for an app is even harder.&nbsp;</p><p>Mobile commerce, however, offers another, perhaps better way.&nbsp;And according to a Goldman Sachs report (nicely&nbsp;<a href="http://dminc.com/mobile-commerce-on-a-tear/">summarized by Jay Fiore</a>), it's on a tear:</p><blockquote><p>M-commerce, which accounted for a little more than one quarter of total e-commerce retail sales in 2014, will account for nearly half of all e-commerce sales in 2018. That’s 3x growth for m-commerce while non-mobile e-commerce grows only 31% over the same period.</p></blockquote><p>Given that prospective growth, coupled with the growth already seen in the ADI data, mobile developers really need to be thinking about apps that not only encourage consumers to play games or watch video, but also to buy things. Citibank understands this and is <a href="http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/citibank-seeks-future-digital-innovation-with-2014-mobile-challenge">reaching out to app developers</a> to help it build the future of mobile banking, but there's really no reason to go build someone else's app when developers can focus on their own.</p><p>In short, as consumers become comfortable buying with their mobile devices we're seeing a "shift in revenue models from pay-to-buy [the app] to pay-as-you-use [the app]," according to <a href="http://www.visionmobile.com/product/developer-economics-q1-2014-state-developer-nation/">VisionMobile's Developer Economics Q1 2014 report</a>. This changes "the role of developers from innovators to&nbsp;value-adding resellers."</p><p>Given the money at stake, that may be exactly what developers need to be in the mobile app economy.</p><p><em>Lead image courtesy of <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a></em></p>Hail the rise of apps as shopping tools.http://readwrite.com/2014/11/13/mobile-commerce-good-for-developers
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/13/mobile-commerce-good-for-developersMobileThu, 13 Nov 2014 07:51:26 -0800Matt Asay6 Apps You'll Need to Survive Black Friday Madness <!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b27a39b0016d19" tml-render-position="center" tml-render-size="large"><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMjk0NTI3MDAzMjMwODIy.jpg" /></figure></div><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b280a060028266" tml-render-position="right" tml-render-size="medium"><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAxNTY1MzgwODgxNjg5.jpg" /></figure></div><p><em>Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Retro-Tech-Gadget-Cases-32666992?image_nid=32682632&amp;slide=13">PopSugar Tech</a>.</em></p><p>Ever wish you could take on Black Friday with a secret weapon? One that would help you brave the crowds and come out victorious? Well we've got, not one, but six of 'em to help you out! After you've stuffed yourself with turkey, load up on these apps that will make your shopping experience not just tolerable but enjoyable. Bring on the challenge!</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b2818bc0016d19"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAyNTc1NzcxOTQzNTI2.jpg" /></figure></div><ul><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shopsavvy-barcode-scanner/id338828953?mt=8">ShopSavvy</a> — Scan a bar code to see if the product you're about to buy is actually discounted. ShopSavvy scans available prices for identical products online and in nearby stores so you can see if you're getting the best deal. </li><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aisle411-shopping-companion/id394218369?mt=8">Aisle411</a> — Android and iPhone users can get custom views of participating stores with Aisle411 to help you find what you're looking for fast. Or at least faster than the folks that don't run to the electronics section. Also included is a list maker so you know what to grab. </li><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bfads.net-black-friday/id476257466">BFAds</a> — Scan the available Black Friday ads, make your shopping lists, and reference items on the go. You can search by item or category, and even compare prices between stores. </li><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/price-check-by-amazon/id398434750?mt=8">Amazon Price Checker</a> — Even though you won't likely find any Black Friday prices on this app (available for Android and iOS), you will be able to see the regular price of an item, which will tell you if they've actually been discounted, or if you're about to get scammed at the register. </li><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/black-friday-2013-blackfriday/id728175625?mt=8">BuyVia's Black Friday 2013</a> — BuyVia has a standard, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday app (available for Android and iOS), each of which compares prices at different stores. This one even alerts you to real-time deals on desired products so you're one of the first to know about a discount. </li><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shopkick/id383298204?mt=8">Shopkick</a> — For all the shopping you're doing, you might as well get some rewards. Shopkick (available for Android and iOS) has partnered with stores like Macy’s, Best Buy, and Target to not only help you discover the best products available but to give you points just for walking into the store or making purchases. You can then redeem points for gift cards. Score!</li></ul><p><em>Images courtesy of <a href="http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/">Thinkstock</a> and Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocke66/308520693/sizes/z/in/photolist-tgfsi-uJCMg-48JQvB-48Mt9q-48Uj9Q-48XYtH-5ES392-5ES3Lr-5ES6mP-5ESbcz-5ESc7K-5ESdUH-5ESg3D-5EUuwf-5EWjL9-5EWmZb-5EWo4y-5EWpAG-5EWqv7-5EWriQ-5EWs6G-5EWsZd-5EWvCA-5EWxbs-5EWxUo-5EWzDs-5EWAsj-5Fzxak-5FDPuN-5FDReY-7iB3aT-7iN69P-7iNvUC-7jBRac-dvH7E3-aKtQm6-aKtNA4-aKtPtX-aKtMEa-aKtRkg-aKtFR8-aKtHFx-aKtGK8-aKtJJ8-aKtKHP-aKtLAV-8Ur2A8-gWf28L-8Ur2BV-gWfajo-gWf6du/">jardenberg</a> via CC&nbsp;</em></p><p><strong>More stories from PopSugar Tech:</strong><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Thanksgiving-Apps-Hosts-25981767">8 Apps to Help You Host an Unforgettable Thanksgiving Dinner</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/How-Take-Holiday-Card-Photos-32492888">5 Tips For Taking Killer Holiday-Card Photos</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Analog-GIF-Player-32564852">Whoa! The Giphoscope Turns GIFs Into Real-Life Art</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Doctor-Who-Gifts-26160068">Gifts For Your Favorite Whovian</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Tech-Life-Hacks-32522404">Got a Tech Problem? There's a Hack For That</a></p>These free apps will serve as your secret weapons come Black Friday.http://readwrite.com/2013/11/25/apps-black-friday-madness
http://readwrite.com/2013/11/25/apps-black-friday-madnessMobileMon, 25 Nov 2013 07:07:00 -0800Lisette Mejia